Thursday, May 17, 2007

Worst Nightmare

Does anyone else who happens to frequent Manhattan sidewalks avoid walking over subway grates because of a fear that they will give way, causing the unlucky pedestrian to plummet untold stories? I always avoid them, and my husband always smirks at me for being, in his opinion, a bit of a baby. Well, he should know now, for once and for all, what most of my readers already know - Orthomom is always right.

Details of a woman's terrifying fall through a subway grate here. I can only make light of this subject because she, thank God, escaped with minor injuries. But this just strengthens my resolve to stay off the grates. Agreed?

31 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:50 PM

    Agreed. I'm not happy anyone was injured, but I too am glad to be validated on this!

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  2. Anonymous7:06 PM

    Yay! A non-election post!

    And yes, OM. I never liked walking on the grates either. More than fear of falling, though, it's more about not wanting my manolos to get caught or my flary skirt to do a marylin monroe style flare.

    (and yeah, I guess I'm a bit of a hot chanie type\0

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  3. Holy camoly - wow. Yes, I always get a bit weird when I'm approaching the grates. Oy - I wish I hadn't read this. ;) (that's a joke! thanks)

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  4. Anonymous9:01 PM

    ORTHOMOM is always right ? I'm suprised you still have a husband with an attitude like that. you don't walk on grates but you seem to like walking on the razor's edge

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  5. I always enjoyed walking on the subway grates, because they gave a nice draft. This story upsets me, but I don't think the grates lead to the tracks, only to a vent above them. I would hate that to happen at the F stations on Lex, because those vents go down 200+ ft...

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  6. Anonymous9:53 PM

    maybe we could hole a election to see who could control the grates

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  7. I dunno, i think a budget might be passed lower than austerity and then they'll put aluminum foil grates instead of iron ones :P

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  8. Anonymous10:19 PM

    The election is over. Let's move on.

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  9. That is a nightmare of mine!! We have those grates in downtown Chicago too. Yes, I have walked through Times Square and avoided the grates! And it actually happened to someone! Glad she only had minor injuries.

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  10. I try to avoid them, sometimes the street is too crowded. So thankful she didn't have any serious injuries.

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  11. Anonymous11:25 PM

    poor grammar at ABC - it's 'faze'me , not 'phase' me

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  12. Anonymous11:44 PM

    I agree with Anon 11:09. Orthomom, would you please respond? By you letting morons write whatever they want and you posting it, is not right. What are you trying to accomplish with your blogs? Enough of the jew bashing. I would like to read your blog without this nonsence.

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  13. Anonymous8:41 AM

    agreed. subway grates and stray voltage from the manhole covers. it's a jungle out there!

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  14. Three years ago, I fell into an open manhole on Madison Avenue. The manhole cover was not secure and, seconds earlier, a truck had run over it and bounced it out. It was dark and I didn't notice it.

    Luckily, I caught my fall with one arm and *only* suffered 27 stiches.

    The good news is I got a nice settlement from Con Ed.

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  15. Anonymous9:53 AM

    As a corollary -- what about sidewalk sheds and other overhead sidewalk protections. They used to make me feel safer until an ER doctor tell me that he had a number of cases of people hurt by falling debris. His point was that the sheds wouldn't be up if things weren't coming down. Unfortunately, no way to avoid them in the Big City.

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  16. Anonymous10:19 AM

    Many years ago, I witnessed a bizarre scene on the subway when it was common to open the windows, because there was no a/c. A sitting passenger under an open window suddenly had vomit on his shoulders. I smelled it too. What apparently happened was that someone on the sidewalk above had vomited into the subway grate, and at that precise moment our train was passing by.

    The poor passanger, a man wearing a nice suit, began to nonchalantly brush off the vomit. Nearby passengers, including me, tried to inconspicuously step away.

    True story.

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  17. Anonymous12:03 PM

    10:19 Thanks for sharing your story, just when I'm about to have lunch!! Way to go!!

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  18. LOL on a couple of the comments...

    I don't know, I kind of liked walking on the grates, as long as they felt sturdy. The shaky ones are the ones I avoid. You can usually tell based on the vibrations from the people in front of you stepping on them.

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  19. I don't remember the grates very well, although maybe. I do not think I should like that it should fall out from under me, now I suppose I shall have a new nightmare to worry about when I'm in NYC.

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  20. Anonymous5:07 PM

    there is a difference between subway grates and transformer vault grates. please make a note of it thank you.

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  21. Anonymous11:52 AM

    I never walk over grates, but I think its more of a woman thing to avoid them..
    Remember men are invincible.

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  22. Anonymous11:29 AM

    11:52 AM: Just remember this: After Adam was created, Eve followed. You know why? Because God saw that Man needed a LOT of help.

    Men don't ask for directions either!

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  23. i'm a male, and have avoided the sidewalk grates since i was a child. while the fear of giving way may not be that reasonable (i've seen great piles of scaffolding supported by them), in the rain, they do get more slippery than the sidewalk.

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  24. Anonymous7:34 AM

    3:39 PM: I agree with you. The comments above your post were added as a joke.

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  25. Oh no! My fears were not unfounded after all...

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  26. Anonymous11:11 PM

    No grates. No sheds. Never. My mother's motto. Sidewalk cracks are ok. But notice who does and doesn't avoid the grates. Now that's a commentary on society.

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  27. Anonymous1:23 PM

    Hey are you a professional journalist? This article is very well written, as compared to most other blogs i saw today….
    anyhow thanks for the good read!

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